The present invention relates to a safety seat, and to a method for reducing stress on an occupant of a motor vehicle.
The following discussion of related art is provided to assist the reader in understanding the advantages of the invention, and is not to be construed as an admission that this related art is prior art to this invention.
It has been known to decouple safety seats in armored motor vehicles from the vehicle's floor, so that the forces which act when, for example, the vehicle travels over a mine are not transmitted directly by the structure of the seat to the vehicle occupant. Driving over a mine often has the result that not only the vehicle as a whole is lifted from the ground but also that the floor of the vehicle is buckled inward to a considerable extent. Seats attached to the vehicle floor thus transmit to the vehicle's occupants not only the impacts and vibrations encountered during normal driving but also the much greater forces of acceleration which occur when a mine explodes or the vehicle is involved in an accident.
One approach to decouple safety seats from the vehicle's structure involves a suspension of the seats by the use of pulling elements. Pulling elements are unable to transmit compressive forces so that a shockwave caused by a mine explosion is not transmitted to the seat and thus not to the occupant. Seats which are held by pulling members, however, require a large number of fixation points than seats with rigid connections.
It would be desirable and advantageous to provide an improved safety seat and an improved method for reducing stress on an occupant of a motor vehicle seated on a safety seat to obviate prior art shortcomings and to provide a lightweight construction while yet producing a safety seat that is reliable in operation.